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‘It was dusk – winter dusk. Snow lay white and shining over the pleated hills, and icicles hung from the forest trees.’ Happy birthday Joan Aiken ..& thank you for furthering the magic of my childhood .. Illustration by Pat Marriott from The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Jonathan Cape, 1962.
Bonnie and Sylvia, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
My friend gave me the Folio edition of The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase for Christmas. It is the most beautiful thing. I have the best friends.
Winter is coming, Rovina Cai
I know it's not the intention, but this would make such an awesome cover for The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
I can't believe today's Google Doodle is for Joan Aiken! What a treat. I can't urge you enough to read her books if you haven't already - she is a massive influence on today's generation of children's and YA fantasy authors. If you like Philip Pullman and Lemony Snicket you'll love Aiken. Dido Twite, heroine for the majority of the Wolves books is one of the most lively, impressive protagonists I've ever read.
One of the books in the series is a take on Moby Dick in which the whale is pink and enjoys eating boiled eggs. I don't know what else I could say that would be more persuasive.
(The second image is my own work - an alternate cover I worked up out of sheer adoration).
Black Hearts In Battersea is now available to listen to on the iPlayer!
I am a massive Joan Aiken fan, and I've been hoping the BBC would rebroadcast this adaptation at some point (I just wish I could track down the TV adaptation it had back in the 90s) - it's one of my favourite books.
You may know Aiken from her Wolves books (of which the above is a part, but also a stand-alone book), her fantastic folkloric tales, her chilling ghost stories, her Jane Austen sequels, or any other of her many many novels. She was one of the 20th Centuries greatest children's writers, and though still widely read and well-stocked in bookshops, she doesn't get talked abut as much as she ought.
If you don't know The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase and its sequels, think of Lemony Snicket and Bleak Expectations - witty, exciting, clever, inventive stories that take place in an alternate version of the 19th century.
This adaptation tames a little of the eccentricity and humour of the book, but is excellently written and acted (out hero Simon is played by a young Joe Dempsie off of Game Of Thrones. If you're looking for something to listen to, you couldn't do better than this!
Can I ask for some help?
I've (finally grrrr) rebuilt this image after my Photoshop fail and I can't decide which of these - if any - is the ticket.
Any thoughts> Thanks!
